Beavers Win at Springfield on Last-Second FG

October 9, 2015

The Beavercreek Beavers won their second thriller in three weeks, edging the Springfield Wildcats on the road 31-28. The Beavers got down early following a 70-yard punt return by Danny Davis, as the Wildcats took an early 7-0 lead. Davis would prove tough for the Beavers to contain, as he would score all four Wildcat touchdowns on 186 yards rushing, 89 yards receiving, and 70 return yards for a total of 345 total yards. After Davis scored his second touchdown on the night in the second quarter, the Wildcats took a 13-0 lead and got the ball back. As the Wildcats began marching down the field, Danny Holstein came up with a big hit to cause a fumble that was recovered by Jack Knipper and the Beavers took advantage by scoring on a Tim Bradshaw 12-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 13-7 at half.

In the third quarter, Springfield scored on their first possession and Davis ran in the two-point conversion and Springfield held a commanding 21-7 lead. The Beavers struck back quickly as Stone Kincer scampered in from 24 yards out, and the Beavers were back within a score. Beavercreek then recovered the onside kick and marched down to score again on a Tim Bradshaw 3-yard run and tie the game 21-21 with 4:25 left in the third quarter.

Davis put Springfield back on top midway through the 4th quarter on a five-yard scoring run and Springfield had a 28-21 lead with just over seven minutes remaining. But momentum quickly swung back to the Beavers as Julian Linkhart took the ensuing kickoff 90 yards untouched for the score and ignited the Beavercreek crowd. With the game tied at 28-28, the Beavers defense came up with a big stop, which was aided by an untimely Springfield holding and personal foul penalty. Following the Springfield punt, the Beavers took over at their own 18 yard line with just over 3:00 minutes to play. With some key runs by Stone Kincer, Tim Bradshaw, Hunter Maloney, and Justin Terrell, the Beavers moved the ball into Wildcat territory. With the ball at the 33, the Beavers took two shots at the endzone. The first shot was a drop that would have certainly been a touchdown with 30 seconds to play. The second was a pass to the back of the endzone that was intercepted by Springfield but out of the back of the endzone. Facing a key 4th and inches with just 14 seconds to play, the referees (who struggled mightily in the game with a host of calls on both sides) made a call to put more time on the clock, which infuriated the Springfield coach who got an unsportmanslike conduct penalty giving the Beavers a first down at the 14. Following a short Tim Bradshaw run up the middle, Mikey Chuck came on and nailed a 28-yard field goal for the win.

Bradshaw led the Beavers rushing attack with 92 yards, Stone Kincer added 74, and Hunter Maloney 58 as the Beavers racked up 245 yards on the ground. Beavercreek did not complete a pass on the night, although they had a couple of very close dropped balls. Caleb Boone and Julian Linkhart led the defense with 8 tackles each. Beavercreek moves to 6-1 (2-0 GWOC) on the season and will travel to Centerville next Friday night. Go Beavers!